Chapter 7
The 3D world and its advanced forms are making GIS more intuitive, immersive, and useful. In ArcGIS, 3D web maps are referred to as web scenes. This chapter introduces the basic terminology of web scenes and the types of scene layers. Using 3D brings advantages to data visualization, analysis, and communication. Users typically find 3D scenes more interesting and intuitive to interpret which gives 3D GIS a wider applicability in storytelling, urban planning, and many other industries. Based on the visual effects, scenes can be grouped into two main types: photorealistic- which aims to re-create reality using photos to texture features, and cartographic – which takes 2D thematic mapping techniques and moves them into 3D. There are two view modes for scenes, local mode which displays features on a planar surface, and global mode which displays features on a sphere. Scenes have four main types of elements: surfaces which are continuous measurements, typically elevation with one value for a given x,y location; features which live on, above, or below the surfaces; textures which provide exterior or interior covers of your 3D features; and atmospheric effects like lighting and fog.